Austin woman picked to lead ACLU jail project

Carrying banner for inmate rightsAustin woman is picked to lead ACLU jail project

STEVE MCVICKER, Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Given her passion for fighting for underdogs and their causes, Alison Brock's friends often tell her that she's an idealist — and sometimes they don't mean it as a compliment.

"Some of them tell me I'm not living in the real world," she says.

Those opinions were likely reinforced this month when she accepted a job with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. As director of the Prison and Jail Accountability Project, Brock will oversee the civil rights organization's litigation and legislative arm-twisting aimed at improving the treatment of the 151,000 people incarcerated in Texas.

Brock, 36, of Austin, realizes that is no easy task in a state not known for coddling criminals.

"We wanted someone to expand our approach to these problems who had legislative experience and contacts, which she has. She's also one of the most conscientious staffers I've ever worked with," said ACLU Executive Director Will Harrell.

In 1991, Brock volunteered as a block-walker for Democratic state Rep. Sylvester Turner in his quest to become the first black mayor of Houston. Although he was up against two better-financed candidates, Turner made it to the runoff before eventually losing.

For much of the past decade, Brock has served as Turner's legislative aide. Along the way, she obtained a post-graduate degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She also has worked as a Travis County juvenile probation officer and has volunteered as a Big Sister for the last five years.

Indeed, the problems of juveniles will be a priority for Brock in her new role with the ACLU. She said she is concerned about reports of abuse of inmates at juvenile detentions centers across the state.

For example, in June, the Texas Juvenile Probation Council investigated 17 allegations of abuse at Harris County's juvenile detention center on Dallas, although 15 of the claims were never substantiated.

Similarly, Brock plans to continue the ACLU's focus on the rape of adult inmates within the Texas prison system.

In 2001, Human Rights Watch named Texas as the worst state in the nation for prison rape. In November, a TDCJ guard was ordered to give an inmate who had accused him of rape $7,200 and his beach house worth $30,000. In the same case, the state was ordered to pay the ACLU $46,000. Meanwhile, litigation continues in the case of inmate Roderick Johnson, who claims that Texas prison guards allowed him to be used as a sex slave for the pleasure of other inmates.

"He was filing grievances and complaints for over 18 months. But at no point in time was he ever moved into protective custody," Brock said. "We want to make sure that the Legislature is measuring the effectiveness of TDCJ's efforts to combat the problem of prison rape because it's systemic and it's widespread."

In preparing for her new assignment, Brock recently reflected on a quote from a Human Rights Watch report that stated the opposite of compassion was not hatred but indifference.

"Because there is an attitude out there that if these horrible things are actually going on then, somehow, these people actually deserve this," she said, adding that the public must realize that "when these people get out of prison, they're coming back to your community. And I think the folks in the Legislature do care about this, and they're going to want to do something about it."

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